What Russians are really being told about war in Ukraine

‘They are lying to you here,’ declared the placard held aloft by the journalist who stormed the set of one of Russia’s most popular news channels this week. Marina Ovsyannikova also recorded a video saying she was ashamed to work for what she called a Kremlin propaganda network. So what are Russians really being told about Putin’s war in Ukraine?

British viewers might be surprised to learn there are plenty of similarities in what Russia’s media is reporting on compared to the Western media: the ever-increasing list of sanctions imposed by Europe and the United States on Russian companies and state figures, the shelling of Ukrainian cities and the meetings of leaders attempting to broker peace.

But although the facts are the same, the reality the Russian media is presenting is completely different. The bombing of Donetsk on Monday, which left at least 20 people dead, has been identified by Kiev as a Russian false-flag operation; but according to the Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, Ukraine were, in fact, responsible, with the paper branding it a ‘barbarian’ war crime.